hi all, im thinking of studying cad / cam at my local collage next month. before i enroll officially can anyone advise if it is simular to what people do on this site? i would really like to model objects and buildings etc. etc. as far as iknow the collage uses autocad . does anyone here know whats involved?

CAD CAM is for 3D modeling in architecture or industrial design. It is different than modeling for games or render models, and also different from organic modeling.

But it can help you to learn CAD, because it is an accurate modeling technique.

hi thanks for the reply :)  do you know what course would be more suited  to myself?

Don't know. Most of what I know I learned it myself. But there are sometimes courses about 3D studio and those that  are good to start modeling.

For nearly everything but product fabrication, learn Autodesk 3ds Max instead.

Anyway knowing CAD opens lots of career opportunities in architecture, industry...

All the jobs I've seen advertised have been max or maya or CAD. wouldn't you just love to show up for an interview and say 'Yeah I can model in bryce!'

On a more serious note, if you want a career then learn CAD and remember its a job and will get boring after a while. If you want to do models like people on this site I would suggest one of the free modelers (as shown at the top of this forum) to get started in.
best of luck

CAD and 3DStudio Max are the most demanded for work. So I suppose it's good to learn them, and once they hire you you just can use what you want.

For modeling for Poser the best is Hexagon. Some people also use Shade.

Don't use a free modeler. It may seem easy at the beginning and zero price, but they are free because they produce meshes with lots of problems for render. If it's just for your use, it's ok, but don't sell things made with free modelers. They are free because they are worse.

I took a lot of time and errors to learn this. In the past I used Anim8or and Art of Illusion. They were great for virtual worlds in VRML, but a pain for Poser.

Hexagon works great as a modeler in general, and has the tools to make flawless meshes for Poser.

There is nothing wrong with the meshes created by either Wings 3d or Blender 3D, both free modeling programs.  I do agree with the others though on AutoCAD.  Generally speaking if you know AutoCAD or can weld you probably will never have difficulty finding a job, and both can be learned either in a tech school or even community college courses.

Yes, Blender and Wings3D are the exception.

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Don't use a free modeler. It may seem easy at the beginning and zero price, but they are free because they produce meshes with lots of problems for render. If it's just for your use, it's ok, but don't sell things made with free modelers. They are free because they are worse.

DO use a free modeker or a trial donload to get started. As jestmart points out, both wings and blender, and you can add metasequoia to that, produce fine meshes.
Why hyperia is urging you to shell out money for software at this stage I don't know. You should find a UI that suits you - thats the most important thing

DO use a free modeker or a trial donload to get started. As jestmart points out, both wings and blender, and you can add metasequoia to that, produce fine meshes.
Why hyperia is urging you to shell out money for software at this stage I don't know. You should find a UI that suits you - thats the most important thing

I already stated that Blender and Wings3D are the exception. I talked about others I tested.

I just recommended Hexagon because it is quite cheap, and works great. That's the one I use. As you do, everyone recommends the tools they use and like :)

Blender is good, but requires quite long time to learn it. There are books for that, I reviewed some. It is a very powerful solution, that works for evrerything from CAD to modeling for games, Poser etc.

Wings 3D is being used for Poser for ages.

Apart from those few, I think it's a good advice to avoid modelers that are not conceived for this.

You're absolutely right people do recomend the software they use. Though I think you'll agree for someone starting out you should try a few different apps to find one that suits you.
I don;t like hexagon cause I don't like modeling in double sided polys. Thats just me and I hasten to add, there's nothing wrong with hexagon - ita a great app.
Blenders UI is way to busy for me - once again thats me Blender is a fantastic app - and its free.

I think I did not explained myself well. Maybe saying they are worse is too rough.

You can pick a powerful free modeler like Blender or one that you have tested it works for what you are doing and doesn't gives you headaches.

But at the beginning  I picked AOI and was very happy with it when I was building VRML worlds. It's easy and works great for what it was conceived: VRML and animations. But for modeling for Poser, 3D printing or render in other engines gives some problems.

In the process of testing software you acquire bad habits, stop learning some things that you could have learned before with other good free or paid app.

So I think he should not try everything in the world. He should try what works, has tools he will employ no matter what modeler uses in the future, and makes him get used to model the right way.

He must experiment, but not with every crap in the world. I can really name those: Hexagon, Wings3D, Blender 3D.

What do you use? If each of us recommends him some soft, he may have a good list to try.

You should have guessed at my using metasequioa! One can pick up bad habits - thats where tutorials and forums come into play.
 I wasn't suggesting D/L everything, AOI and anim8ator seem not to have been updated for a few years - draw your own conclusions from that.
Most modelling apps have pretty much the same tools but their accesssibility and indeed naming seems to vary quite a bit

No, AOI last update is from Jan. 3, 2010. Some apps simply are conceived for simpler tasks and don't produce good results.